COLA-fornia Dreaming

Since December 2019, UCSC graduate students have been striking in pursuit of a cost of living adjustment, or COLA, to lift themselves out of rent burden and address, with urgency, issues of housing and food precarity.

However, today, Thursday, April 30, 2020, is not an average episode; instead it’s an announcement and a Call to Action.

Tomorrow is May 1st or May Day aka International Worker’s Day. And this May Day, workers across the world will be going on strike. In addition, millions of tenants are withholding their rent. And we Wildcats are organizing our own action right here in Santa Cruz!

Join us for a May Day Caravan this Friday, May 1, 2020, in Santa Cruz from noon to 4:30 PM PST, as we stand in solidarity with those striking and fighting for their right to live in this city. This will be a slow-moving, socially-distant action using car and bike transit that will move from UCSC’s campus to downtown Santa Cruz to support workers across the city. This mobile rally seeks to highlight various ongoing struggles in Santa Cruz as well as bring joy to those we visit.

For more information about this event, please visit us at www.strikeuniversity.org/May-Day You can RSVP for this event at www.tinyurl.com/santacruzmayday

For more information about striking graduate students at UCSC, please visit our website at www.payusmoreucsc.com.

Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram and Twitter at @payusmoreucsc for even more updates and live streaming.

You can also show your solidarity by liking, subscribing, sharing, and reviewing our podcast. This helps people find us!

And if you have any questions about this podcast or suggestions for content, please email us at [email protected]

Opening and Closing Music: "Spread the Strike" by David Rovics

Background music: "I Got You STEMS Instruments" by Birgersson Lundberg

Every week this podcast will highlight some of the many voices behind the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC) wildcat strike. Since December 2019, UCSC graduate students have been striking in pursuit of a cost of living adjustment, or COLA, to lift themselves out of rent burden and address, with urgency, issues of housing and food precarity.

While our longer episodes in this series feature snippets from oral history interviews between myself and my fellow wildcat strikers, today’s episode is a more informal minisode dedicated to keeping our listeners up-to-date with all COLA-related news.

Today’s episode will feature an interview with UCSC’s Yulia Gilich, wildcat strike extraordinaire, as we have a very informative Q&A session about the Unfair Labor Practice Strike pledge circulating amongst UC’s academic student employees. So, listen in, as Yulia stops by the podcast to answer all my questions regarding the much talked about ULP strike pledge!

If you want to know more about the ULP and/or want to sign the strike pledge, please visit our website at www.payusmoreucsc.com to learn more.

Please show your solidarity by liking, subscribing, sharing, and/or reviewing this podcast!

If you would like to donate to our strike fund to help support striking and fired graduate students, please visit www.gofundme.com/f/support-fund-for-striking-workers-at-ucsc.

Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram and Twitter at @payusmoreucsc for updates and memes. And if you have any questions about this podcast or suggestions for content, please email us at [email protected]

Special thanks to David Rovics for donating his song "Spread the Strike" for use in our podcast! Visit and subscribe to his Youtube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNvnHiMQWkL8E6382mrRx-g

Until next time, wildcats!

Every week this podcast will highlight some of the many voices behind the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC) wildcat strike. Since December 2019, UCSC graduate students have been striking in pursuit of a cost of living adjustment, or COLA, to lift themselves out of rent burden and address, with urgency, issues of housing and food precarity.

Each episode in this series features snippets from longer oral history interviews between myself and my fellow wildcat strikers as we discuss issues ranging from their relationship to high education to the context behind their decision to join the collective fight for a cost of living adjustment.

In this, the first official episode of our podcast, we begin with a conversation with Carlos Cruz, a second-year Ph.D. student in history at UCSC and one of the most visible COLA movement student leaders. Listen, as Carlos shares with our listeners his relationship to higher education, his reasons for striking, and the true meaning of a COLA for graduate students like himself.

Show your solidarity by liking, subscribing, sharing, and/or reviewing our podcast! You can also visit our website at www.payusmoreucsc.com to learn more.

If you would like to donate to our strike fund to help support striking and fired graduate students, please visit www.gofundme.com/f/support-fund-for-striking-workers-at-ucsc.

Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram and Twitter at @payusmoreucsc for updates and memes. And if you have any questions about this podcast or suggestions for content, please email us at [email protected]

Special thanks to David Rovic for donating his song "Spread the Strike" for use in our podcast! Visit and subscribe to his Youtube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNvnHiMQWkL8E6382mrRx-g

Until next time, wildcats!

This is a sneak preview of a new podcast titled "COLA-fornia Dreaming," a show dedicated to the voices behind the graduate student wildcat strike at the University of California at Santa Cruz where students are actively fighting for a living wage. Since December 2019, UCSC graduate students have been striking in pursuit of a cost of living adjustment, or COLA—Yes, like the drink— to lift ourselves out of our rent burden and address larger issues of housing and food precarity. Episodes will feature portions of in-depth oral history interviews with wildcat strikers with topics ranging from views on higher education to individual decision to participate in collective action. Weekly mini-episodes will be dedicated to keeping our listeners informed of all COLA-related news.

Show your solidarity by keeping informed by liking and subscribing to our podcast. To learn more, visit our website at www.payusmoreucsc.com. Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram and Twitter at @payusmoreucsc for updates and memes!